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Focusing on The Run

Over the past few weeks, I’ve realized that my legs are stronger than ever. I’m maintaining paces that were once never even imaginable to me. In fact, the two times I ran the NYRR Fifth Avenue Mile, in 2009 and 2011, I never broke an 8:15 pace.

Yesterday, when I shared this picture on Instagram, I was still in shock that I was able to maintain a 7:43 and 7:48 pace for a mile each.

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But, after checking my Garmin a few times and feeling the multiple dry heaves and near puke moments, I spent a few moments enjoying this new-found speed.

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This speed makes me want to push harder than years before. It makes me believe that some time, down the road, with proper training I may be able to run a sub 4-hour marathon. But most of all, it has made the act of running more fun than ever before. Historically running for me was not only a way of losing weight and staying in shape, but also a very social activity. When living in New York City, I typically ran with friends at least twice a week. Don’t get me wrong, running with friends was certainly fun but I wasn’t always enjoying the run. I was enjoying the company of others, catching up with friends and the fact that their company took my mind off the act of running.

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Since moving to Geneva, it’s a rare gift to run with my friend Emily. Running alone quickly grew boring and challenging, even when I took the time to put together a new playlist or was surrounded by beautiful sites.  Since starting the Runner’s World Run Less, Run Faster plan, I am focused on each runs goal and the actual activity of running versus trying to take my mind off the run. I’ve found that having focused runs, each of which have a goal, is making running more enjoyable and delivering more results. In fact, at least once a week I leave the house without music. I have found comfort in the challenge that makes me want to focus on my muscles, my pounding heart and my breathing.

So whether you’re working up to running your first 5k or training for an ultra marathon, try changing things up once in a while. You never know what a new training plan or a solo run will do for you.

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The Return of the Long Run

Oh holy jet lag! This time Bo nor I were able to beat jet lag and instead have just given into it 100%. Typically we do our best to quickly adjust to the time zone by going to bed at normal times, making sure we wake up at normal times, eating healthy, and hydrating. When we arrived back in Geneva on Friday, after over 30 hours of travel, we immediately headed to a wedding celebration for Mike & Nora.

 Photo: No better way to celebrate Swiss National Day than at Nora and Mike's wedding! Cruising around the lake through Switzerland and France in gorgeous weather surrounded by fireworks. I'll take it. ✨

The celebration was pretty amazing and included a yacht tour of Lac Leman with 50 of their friends and then an after party at Java, a local club. The night ended at 2am and by this point we’d each been up for over 36 hours.

Needless to say that between Friday night and Saturday night, Bo and I slept 24 hours. I think you could say our bodies were screaming for sleep. Yesterday we woke up at 3pm and today we woke up at 12pm. I don’t think I’ve EVER slept until 3pm; not even in college! With the crazy jet lag, it would have been easy to skip this week’s long run and just put it off until next weekend. The Berlin Marathon my goal race this Fall, is just 8 weeks away which means that only 7 long runs remain until the big day. That, along with the fact that Theodora would be crushing the NYC Tri at the same time, gave me the inspiration and kick in the butt needed to get out the door this afternoon.

My goal for today’s long run was to start practicing my fuel and clothing plan for race day. I relaxed for an hour, while catching up on emails and blogging, as I ate my pre-run “brunch”. This morning was the return of a classic, as we brought PB and Company Bee’s Knees peanut butter back with us from the US.  In addition to peanut butter and banana on toast I enjoyed a cup of coffee and Vega Sport Prepare pre-workout energizer. The Vega was a little too earthy or plant tasting for me but I will continue trying it as so many people swear by it before long workouts.

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When I left the house it was overcast and around 70 degrees; perfect long run weather. My goal was to only stop 3 times during the run, once for fuel and then another two times to refill my water bottle. The course I mapped was simple to follow and parts of it were along the lake and through the botanical gardens which meant lovely scenery.

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As the pictures show, the overcast weather quickly turned to a sunny and humid summer day complete with temperatures in the low 80s. My route provided very little shade and I quickly regretted forgetting to add NUUN or Vega Sport to my water for electrolyte replenishment. But, the good news is that the 13 miles went exactly as I hoped. I felt strong and my pace was exactly on target for my Berlin Marathon training.

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The middle miles, seven through nine, were slower than planned as I had to weave through Fete de Geneve festivities including lots of fair games and rides. I will share my playlist this week as it was perfect and was only half way through when Map My Run told me I was finished with 13 miles.

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Next week I have 15 miles on the schedule and my sole goal is to maintain a similar pace. Thanks for all the suggestions and positive motivation earlier this week as you all really helped me believe that I could come back from my training break stronger than before!

I finished the run with a refreshing green smoothie including spinach, powered peanut butter, frozen banana, skim milk, ice, Blissful Eats granola and Designer Whey protein powder!

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Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with the couch!

How was your weekend? Did you have a long run or other workout which you especially loved?

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Five Tips to Make Treadmill Long Runs Easier

I’ve talked about it more than once on this blog. I LOVE Friday morning long runs. It’s one less thing on my weekend to do list and now, while I’m triathlon training, it also allows for time swimming and biking with Bo.

However, sometimes things don’t go as planned. I woke up this morning at 5am, got dressed, ate a banana and peanut butter while sipping on Nuun. I walked out the front door at 5:15 and heard a loud clap of thunder and saw lightening in the distance. I am all for running in the elements, including rain,  but I do not like taking chances when it comes to lightning.

Knowing in the back of my mind that we have plans tonight and a Fourth of July BBQ and party tomorrow, the last thing I wanted to do was try and schedule my long run between those activities. While I have learned over the past few months that I can definitely bike with a hangover, I have no desire to run with one. I went back to bed for two hours and decided to pack my gear for a post work long run on the treadmill.

I can now say that I have run 13 miles on the treadmill.

imageWith a little bit of planning and strategy, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Here are my tips for making your next treadmill long run a success.

5 tips for treadmill long runs

1. Break it 30 minute increments. For some reason, 30 minutes is a very manageable and acceptable time to run on a treadmill. It also means that anytime your eye sees the clock it sees a number that isn’t intimidating. Every 30 minutes I grabbed a sip of water and quickly restarted the treadmill.

2. Switch up your entertainment. For this run, I brought three forms of entertainment: music, television show and the World Cup. I listened to music for the first 4 miles, watched an episode of Mad Men for 5 miles and then watched the France versus Germany World Cup game for the final 4 miles. If you don’t have a television or iPad show option, changing playlists or genre of music can be a good option. Another idea is to listen to a podcast or audiobook half the time and then music the other half.

3. Don’t forget fuel and water. I kept a water bottle next to me on the treadmill but when I started to get tired around mile 11 I realized I forgot to bring fuel. Since my tank was empty for the final few miles my pace definitely suffered a bit as did my overall mentality.

4. Take advantage of the elevation button. Whether or not you’re training for a hilly race, using the elevation button on a treadmill can spice things up during an otherwise monotonous long run. Of course, be careful not to push the elevation too much if your goal is a long distance. One great tip that I found a few years ago is to download the course map for your upcoming race and use try to replicate some of the elevation changes during your run. You can find a lot of elevation maps by typing “elevation grade of <insert race name>” or “elevation chart for <insert race name>.”

5. Bring a towel. I didn’t think to bring a towel since our gym has paper towels readily available. Maybe it was the humidity or the fact that our gym isn’t air conditioned, but I found myself sweating more on the treadmill than I normally would outside! Two hours of sweat wiping later, my face didn’t appreciate the cardboard like paper towels. Next time I’ll bring a small towel to wipe myself down and cover the screen.

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A little over two hours later I was able to push stop on the treadmill and kick off the weekend. Thirteen miles is a new personal distance record on the treadmill and while I have no desire to do it again soon, at least I know it’s always an option when weather or scheduling gets in the way.

How far have you run on a treadmill?

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